In the second half, the Dragons came back and scored two touchdowns. But late in the fourth quarter, the Sidewinders regained the lead, 20 to 14. They could smell victory and a district championship.
Then, with less than three minutes left in the game, Sam Morales did something uncharacteristically stupid. He didn’t know if it was the tension or the excitement of the game, but on the next play, he chop blocked a charging defensive lineman. Instead of going for the upper body to stop the rushing player, Sam dove at his knees and ankles. The lineman fell to the ground, grabbed his right knee and howled in pain. The referee blew his whistle and threw a yellow flag. A Burnet player, furious at Sam’s dirty move, seized him by his jersey and cussed him out. Sam snatched the player’s face mask and twisted his helmet around.
Soon, players from both sides jumped into the scuffle. When the referees finally took control of the situation, the Sidewinders were penalized fifteen yards, and both Sam and the Burnet player who grabbed him were tossed out of the game.
With a look on his face that would have frightened the devil, Coach Blaylock blasted his players for fighting. Now left with no other choice, he sent Jesse in to take Sam’s place.
Jesse ran out on the field, thrilled at the opportunity to be part of Deaf Smith’s first district championship.
On the line of scrimmage, he snapped the ball to Riley, who completed a twenty-three yard pass to Mitch Maloof. Despite their fifteen yard penalty, the Sidewinders picked up an easy first down.
The tambourines rattled. The fans cheered. The drumline stepped up its beat.
On the next down, Goose picked up five yards. The play clock had run down to under two minutes, and the Sidewinders were moving the ball. Another score and they would put the game out of reach for the Dragons.
They continued to drive down the field until they reached the nineteen-yard line. It was now third and four with forty-seven seconds left in the game. Even if the Sidewinders didn’t pick up a first down, they were close enough for Bucky to kick a field goal.
A Burnet nose guard, who looked like a grizzly bear in a football uniform, crouched across from Jesse, breathing so hard that Jesse could smell his stinky breath.
“Stay low. Don’t stand up straight to block,” Coach Lawson’s words rang in Jesse’s head. “You need to have a good stance and good balance. Always be ready for the lineman who’s gonna try to run you over.”
As big as the grizzly nose guard was, Jesse had been able to hold his own against him in the previous plays.
“Remember, push underneath your opponent’s shoulder pads, back straight and feet apart. Keep driving forward until the play is over.”
Jesse was so focused on how he was going to stop the nose guard that he didn’t pay attention to his snap. Instead of sliding the football into Riley’s hands, he hit Riley’s fingers, causing him to fumble it. Everyone scrambled for the loose ball. While both teams fought for it, a Burnet defensive end recovered the football, ran with it in the opposite direction and scored a touchdown.
Jesse’s heart dropped as he stared at the Burnet player in disbelief.
An extra point later, the Dragons took the lead. Seconds after that, they won the game, 21 to 20. The Sidewinders’ playoff hopes ended, and the Dragons became the new district champs.
Coach Blaylock hurled his clip board onto the field and unleashed a string of obscenities, but his voice was drowned amid the wild cheers and applause from the Burnet fans.
After the game, the Sidewinders reluctantly stood in line to shake hands with their opponents, as they traditionally did, in a gesture of good sportsmanship. Several Burnet players laughingly thanked Jesse for fumbling the ball. Jesse wanted to crawl under the turf and forget that the whole evening ever happened.
In the locker room, Coach Blaylock’s explosive rant continued. “You all need to be ashamed of yourselves for your sorry performance out there!” he bellowed. “Earlier in the game, we had the Dragons pinned against the ropes, thirteen to nothing. But you let them slip though your fingers. You let them score three unanswered touchdowns!” His face grew redder as he spoke. “We had a chance to win district, but you blew it. And don’t put the blame on any one player,” he added, staring at Sam and Jesse. “Remember, there’s no ‘I’ in TEAM!”
Yeah, yeah. And there’s no Jesse Baron in TEAM either. Jesse couldn’t wait to get out of the locker room and move on with his life.
After Coach left Riley got in Jesse’s face. “You make me wanna puke, Baron! I don’t know why Coach Blaylock keeps you on the team. You’re pathetic. You’re a joke, and everybody knows it.”
Sam grabbed Riley’s arm and pulled him back. “Leave Baron alone, Riley. If you want to blame anyone, blame me. I’m the one who lost my cool and chop blocked that lineman. I’m the one who got thrown out of the game.”
Riley tugged himself off. “No, Morales, you didn’t do anything wrong. You were playing with intensity. You did what you had to do to stop that lineman. Besides, we overcame that penalty. It was Baron’s screw up that cost us the game and the championship.”
Jesse had had enough of Riley King. With his heart racing, he said, “You’ve got a big mouth, pal. Maybe it’s time someone shut it up.”
Defiantly, Riley tucked out his chin. “Who’s gonna do it, Baron? You?”
Wendell stepped between them with his arms outstretched. “Come on, guys. Let’s cool it. It’s over. What happened can’t be undone, so let’s put it behind us.”
Riley bared his teeth and said, “No wonder Sara dumped you, Baron. She told me she wanted to be with a real man instead of with a loser like you.”
Jesse shoved Wendell out of the way and lunged at Riley, but Sam and Alberto caught him before he could do anything.
“Be glad they’re holding you back, you wuss,” Riley taunted. “That’s what Sara calls you. A wuss.”
Jesse’s nostrils flared, and he unleashed a barrage of cuss words, which shocked him because he didn’t ordinarily use foul language.
“Come on, Jesse,” Alberto said. “Let it go. Riley didn’t mean anything. He’s just upset ’cause we lost. It wasn’t your fault. One player doesn’t win or lose a game.”
Jesse continued to glare at Riley, measuring him with his eyes, wondering if he could take him in a fight. Then he freed himself from Sam and Alberto. With his anger somewhat subsided, he took a quick shower.
While he was getting dressed, he heard Goose talking about his Halloween party.
“We’ll have plenty of pizzas and Cokes,” Goose said. “My mom’s making popcorn balls and caramel apples. Wendy’s bringing Return to Darkness, plus a couple of other horror flicks.” He turned to Jesse. “What about you? What have you decided about Saturday night?”
Jesse slipped on his sweater. “Sorry, Goose. I’d like to go, but like I told you, I already have plans.”
“Oh, yeah. You’re going out on a date with The Jobber.”
Alberto smiled curiously. “Who?”
“You know TJ Masters from American Championship Wrestling?” Goose said. “Jesse would rather hang out with that jobber than to go to my party.”
“Masters?” Alberto said. “Dude, if you’re gonna pal around with wrestlers, hang out with the cool ones.”
“That’s what I told him,” Goose said.
Jesse didn’t know why Goose was harassing him about his friendship with TJ, but he was getting sick of it.
“I have an idea, Jesse,” Wendell said. “Why don’t you invite TJ to Goose’s party? That way we can all meet him.”
“No, Wendell,” Jesse said, peeved. “TJ’s taking me to a party at his apartment clubhouse. I’m his guest.”
“Ooh, you’re his guest,” Goose taunted. “What is he? Your girlfriend?”
Jesse’s face flushed red.
“Yeah,” Bucky piped in with his irritating, high voice. “What is he? Your girlfriend?”
Jesse snapped. The rage he felt toward Riley spewed out. Without thinking, he seized Bucky by his
shirt and slammed him against the lockers. “Look, punk! You keep talking like that, and you’ll be eating your pizza at Goose’s party with your jaws wired shut!”
Bucky’s mouth fell open.
Wendell quickly pulled Jesse off. “What’s the matter with you, man? Bucky was just joking. There’s no need to freak out.”
Jesse slapped Wendell’s arms away. “Get your hands off me, fatso!”
Bucky’s face was chalky. His lower lip quivered and his eyes grew watery.
“Why are you picking on Bucky, man?” Alberto asked. “He didn’t do nothing to you.”
“Yeah, why are you picking on him?” Sam echoed.
Other guys circled around Jesse.
“What happened?”
“Jesse slammed Bucky against the lockers for no reason.”
“Why’d you do that, man?”
“Yeah, why are trying to beat Bucky up?”
Bucky sat at the far end of a bench and sobbed. He was the smallest player on the team, standing five foot seven and weighing no more than a hundred forty pounds. Bucky wasn’t an athlete. The only reason he was on the team was because he could punt and kick better than anyone else. He got teased a lot, but he was well-liked by everyone on the team. If Jesse had gone after anyone, it should have been Goose. He was the one who had been teasing him about TJ. Or Riley. He was the one Jesse was really mad at.
Jesse grabbed his duffel bag and made his way out of the locker room through a gauntlet of cold, angry stares. At that moment, he became the most hated guy on the team.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Saturday evening, TJ pulled up in front of the Target store, where Jesse had been waiting for him. Jesse had never wanted to see anyone more than he did TJ. He needed to talk to someone about what had happened the night before, but he didn’t want to discuss it with his grandparents. Or his mother. And especially not his father.
TJ was wearing a variation of Green Lantern’s costume. He had on a long-sleeve Green Lantern sweater, a green mask and green wrestling tights and boots. Jesse wore a black turtle-neck sweater and black pants, which he figured would be okay for a Halloween party, but it wasn’t a costume. Jesse worried that he wasn’t dressed appropriately.
“What’s the good news, Jesse?” TJ asked as he drove out of the parking lot. “Are the Sidewinders the new district champs?”
Jesse stared out the window in silence.
“Are they?”
“No,” Jesse said quietly. Then unable to hold back, he choked up and began to cry.
TJ rubbed Jesse’s neck. “Hey, man, don’t let it get to you. The Sidewinders had a great season. You’ve got a lot to be proud of.”
“But it was my fault, TJ!” Jesse wailed. Through his tears, he told TJ everything that happened, including his blow up in the locker room. Jesse even told him about Sara and the comments Riley made about her.
“Don’t think about it, Jesse,” TJ said. “It’s over. Now come on. Let’s go have fun. At the party, I’ll introduce you to some gals that’ll make you forget all about that old Sandra.”
“Sara,” Jesse said.
“See? I’ve forgotten about her already.” TJ reached in the back seat for a plastic bag. “Here, I’ve got something for you.”
Jesse opened the bag and took out a brown wrestling mask with white trim. The design was unfamiliar to him. He didn’t know of any wrestler who wore it. Jesse was disappointed that TJ hadn’t given him a duplicate of the Mil Máscaras mask.
TJ drove into the Brookstone Apartments parking lot and found a space near the club house. He turned off the ignition and told Jesse to put on the mask. “Whatever you do, while you’re at the party, don’t take it off. You understand?”
“But what if it gets hot?” Jesse asked as he laced up the mask.
“I’m telling you, Jesse,” TJ said, his face growing serious. “Don’t take it off.”
At the door, a stout female security guard with short, dark hair was checking IDs.
“Evening, Maxine,” TJ greeted the security guard. “I want you to meet Sweet Brown Coffey, an old friend of mine. He’s been wrestling in the indies for years. Coffey just got hired by the ACW.”
The security guard looked Jesse over. “Sweet Brown Coffey?” She let out a hearty laugh. “Honey, you’re just how I like my coffee. Sweet and brown.” She waved them through. “Y’all have a good time, and don’t drink too much.”
Once inside, Jesse asked, “What was that all about?”
“You’re underage, Jesse,” TJ said. “No one under twenty-one is allowed in here. That’s why I want you to keep the mask on. You’re built like a man, but you’ve got a baby face. There’s no way Maxine was gonna let you in if she saw what you look like.”
Jesse suddenly felt out of place. He glanced around the room. Most of the people appeared to be in their mid-twenties to early thirties. “So who’s Sweet Brown Coffey?” he asked.
“You are,” TJ said. “For tonight, anyway. Get used to the name. That’s how I’m gonna introduce you. Come on. Let’s go meet some people.”
Strands of jack o’ lantern lights hung across the ceiling, illuminating the darkened club house. Flames from black candles in glass bowls shimmered brightly. Trays of chicken wings, meatballs, taquitos and vegetable platters sat on three long tables. A cauldron in the center of one of the tables served as a punch bowl. A DJ dressed as a pirate boomed out techno music.
TJ led Jesse to the bar where a woman in a cat costume was arguing with the bartender, because he wouldn’t serve her a drink.
“Hi, TJ,” she said. “I love your costume. Who are you supposed to be? The Green Hornet?”
“No, Kristi. I’m the Green Lantern,” TJ said.
Kristi hiccupped. “Oh, yeah. I saw the movie.” She wagged a finger in Jesse’s direction. “And who are you supposed to be, darling? The Brown Lantern?”
“This is a wrestling buddy of mine, Kristi,” TJ said. “Sweet Brown Coffey.”
Kristi ran her hand along the side of Jesse’s mask. “Ooh, darling. You’re just how I love my coffee.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jesse said. “Sweet and brown.”
Kristi shrieked with drunken laughter. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”
Jesse wished TJ had come up with another name for him. The Brown Lantern would have been better than Sweet Brown Coffey.
Kristi brushed up against TJ and said, “Darling, would you tell Hector to let me have just one more margarita? Please?”
“Kristi, you’ve had enough to drink for a while,” the bartender told her. “Why don’t you get something to eat? Maybe later I’ll serve you another margarita, but not right now.”
TJ peeled Kristi off him. “You heard what the doctor said, Kristi. Have you seen Arlene and Donna?”
Kristi hiccupped again. “Sure. They’re sitting over there by the skeleton thingy.” She pointed to a table where a rubber skeleton with red, glowing eyes hung from above.
TJ introduced Jesse to the bartender, a man named Hector Castro, who lived at the apartments. “Give me two scotch and waters, Hector,” TJ said.
After the bartender prepared the drinks, TJ handed Jesse a glass and said, “Here you go, buddy. Drink up.”
Jesse couldn’t refuse TJ now. The bartender might suspect something. He took a sip. The scotch and water burned his throat. Jesse didn’t understand how anyone could enjoy drinking the stuff.
Having given up trying to persuade Hector to serve her another margarita, Kristi followed TJ and Jesse to the table where TJ introduced Jesse to Arlene, a girl he had been dating, and Donna, Arlene’s roommate. Donna was dressed in a short, leather brown dress with two feathers that stuck out of a headband. Arlene wore a black-and-white French maid outfit.
“Are you really a wrestler?” Donna asked when Jesse sat next to her.
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“You’re kind of small for a wrestler, aren’t you?”
“I fight in the light-heavyweight division,�
� Jesse told her, even though the ACW had no light-heavyweight division.
Donna took a sip of her drink. Then she reached for the bottom of Jesse’s mask. “Let’s see what you really look like.”
Jesse pulled away. “Sorry, but no one can know my true identity. You know, for security reasons.” He didn’t know what that meant, but it made Donna laugh.
She was gorgeous—long, dark-brown hair, blue eyes and full lips. She was probably twenty-four or twenty-five, far too old to be interested in Jesse if she knew how old he really was.
“You’re not ugly under the mask, are you?” Donna asked.
“No, actually I’m quite handsome,” Jesse said. “In fact, one of the reasons I wear the mask is because if I don’t, my female fans will jump over the security railing at the wrestling arenas to try to get at me.”
Donna laughed again.
Under the mask, Jesse felt relaxed and uninhibited. Donna had no idea he was really a sixteen-year-old junior in high school. She asked Jesse about his wrestling career, so he told her his father’s stories—about how he had wrestled for the Southwest Wrestling Association, the Universal Wrestling League and National Pro Wrestling. When Donna asked why she hadn’t seen him on TV, Jesse explained that he was still new to the ACW, so they were only using him in house shows.
TJ and Arlene got up to dance. Feeling confident, Jesse took Donna by the hand. “Come on, let’s join them.”
Kristi eyed Jesse’s near-full glass of scotch and water. “Are you going to finish that?” she asked.
“Help yourself,” Jesse said.
He hadn’t dated anyone since he broke up with Sara, so he was thrilled to be with a girl as beautiful as Donna.
After a while, Jesse and Donna stopped to get something to eat. Back at their table, TJ began telling a ghost story that had supposedly taken place in San Antonio.
“Years ago, a school bus stalled on the railroad tracks on Shane Street,” TJ told the group. “A train started coming toward it. The conductor yanked on the train whistle’s string to warn the bus driver to move out of the way, but the bus didn’t budge. Then, bam! The train smashed into the bus, killing the driver and a bunch of little kids.”
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